u 



n 



ADDRESS 



BEFORE THE 



^m^ 




r^ 




BY 



GEORGE B. LOHING. 



-«—••«—»- 



PXJBXjISHCEID 



B-5r OPir>EE, OF TKCE SOCIET-52-. 



NEWBURYPORT : 

HERALD JOB PRESS-COR. STATE & MIDDLE STS. 

1858. 



ADDRESS 



>3EP0RE THE 



m^ g^grmumrai ^mt% 



-BY 



GEORGE B. LOEOG 



DECEMBER, 1858, 



NEWBURYPORT : 

SHESALD JOB PRESS— COR. STATE & MIDDLE STS. 

185 8, 



^1 



ADDIIESS, 



^Y GEORGE B. L R I N G- 



4Ir. President and Gentlemen op tee Society :— 

A refulgent and luxuriant summer has brought us td 
that bounteous harvest season in which we are accustomed to 
•come up to our annual festival, and take counsel together of our 
experiences in agriculture. We have indeed abundant reason 
to be grateful to an overruling Providence, which has smiled 
upon our endeavors, and has taught us, in a time of distrust 
and disaster, how true the earth and sky are to the olden 
.promises. 

But I should fail to express the foremost thought of every 
member of our society, did I neglect to dwell upon that be- 
Teavement which is brought before us most sorrowfully on this 
<iay, and on this occasion. In the midst of all our rejoicings 
and congratulations, there is one void which rests with a pain- 
ful sense upon all who have devoted themselves to our frater- 
nity. The place once filled by one of our most worthy Presi- 
dents, the Hon. Moses Newell, is now vacant. The manly and 
hearty enthusiasm which he imparted to our annual meetings, 
is gone. And it remains for us as a part of our duty, to emu- 
late his example, and to sustain with his spirit the work which 
belongs to us as associated farmers of this his native county, 
for he was essentially the impersonation of the duty which we 
■have taken upon ourselves. A farmer, born upon our soil, he 



4 IfR. LORINGS ADDRESS. 

Icarnsd iu his infancy the true genius of a farmery's life, and as^ 
he advanced to manhood, he grew in mind and body to the- 
robust proportions demanded by the farmer's calling. His own 
lands were large, and the place was early assigned him of high 
authority in all matters of agriculture. He had a quick and 
sagacious eye, and a calm and correct judgment. A natural 
instinct seemed to direct his views aright, and from his genial 
and generous temperament, there went ovA a kindlj interest 
in all agricultural enterprise, and a warm encouragement for 
all who were engaged in the work ho loved so well. He may 
truly be called the public farmer of our county, fsr to liini; 
of all men among us, was the public attention directed, when- 
ever questions arose of general interest to the cause of agri- 
culture. It was he who was selected to distribute among us 
improved breeds of cattle. It was he who spoke for our soci- 
ety in the State Board of Agriculture. It was he who repre- 
sented our county honorably and well in the National Societyv 
It was he who charmed the great farmers of the south and 
west by the cordial liberality of his feelings, and by the honest 
wisdom which characterized his thoughts. He had secured the 
warmest friendship of the late distinguished senator from the 
young and growing state of Texxis, and in his intercourse with- 
that liberal and sagacious statesman ho seemed to cherish that 
tie which binds cur ancient commonwealth in indissoluble 
bonds with the great agricultural regions which send from our 
farthest frontiers the vigor of perpetual youth to our mature 
republic. He bestowed upon our society and upon our county 
the benefit of his good reputation abroad, and of his good 
counsels at home. And while he served his state in her highest 
seats with honor, while he performed the part of a peaceable, 
honest and good tempered citizen, while ]\e exercised those 
domestic virtues whicli are too sacred to be torn from the spot 
in which tliey were cherished, even for public admiration, while 
he displayed in all his duties an intellectual strength and pre- 
cision whicii education alone cannot give, while he carried with 
him the harmonious influence of a truly kind heart, while he 
invigorated every public act in which he was engaged, while 
he encouraged a spirit of enterprise and improvement, while he 
afe'ored always first for the good of others, he won a positioii 



MR. LOrJNG o ADDRESS,- 5- 

of high v-alue and commanding excellence, as a sensible, liberal, 
honest and high-toned American farmer. 

His services to our society can never be forgotten. What- 
ever station he was called on to fill, he filled it with fidelity. 
In our ranks he was a good soldier ; and in presiding over 
our society, he was indeed in every point the farmer deliberat- 
ing with his brethren. 

It is not for him alone that I look around me in vain. Since 
we last met, my native town has been deprived of one of its 
most useful and exemplary citizens, and our society has lost one 
of its oldest and most valuable members. The Hon. William 
Johnson, of North Andover, has left behind him a reputation 
as an honest and upright magistrate, a conscientious and trust- 
worthy^ adviser, and a prudent and thriving farmer. He 
belonged to a family distinguished for its substantial virtues, 
and in sustaining its character he performed his part well. He 
was one of a race of staunch and sturdy men, who, during the 
last generation, stood around the institutions of our community 
and of our common country, to protect and elevate them. He 
was a warm friend, an agreeable companion, a kind and liberal 
neighbor. The last acts of his life indicated his just apprecia- 
tion of the means by which society is to be preserved and 
improved. As a member of our Board of Trustees, he took a 
high stand at a time when his associates were men who adorned 
our country ; and he never lost that interest in our association 
whicli had led him through a long and active life to encourage 
the pursuits of agriculture. 

I have felt that I cannot pay a more fitting tribute to the 
memory of these, our late companions, nor occupy your time 
more appropriately and profitably, than by considering the 
duties and opportunities which belong to us as an agricultural 
society. 

Now, gentlemen, it was not simply to excite a spirit of emu- 
lation in the farmers of this county, it was not to create a 
rivalry here which might end in enriching the soil and embit- 
tering the people, it was not to record a chapter of fortunate 
accidents, a long list of mammoth fruits and monster animals, 
it was not to encourage an ill-regulated and unprofitable strife 
for excellence, that our fathers founded this society in which we 



C MIL LORING S ADDRLSS. 

take pride, as iu a rich inheritance. Do you suppose the wise 
and practical patriot and statesman, whose lofty duties iu the 
service of his country, established an intimacy between the 
planter pf Mount Yernon and the farmer of Wenham, which 
rgave a glowing dawn to our rising republic, and shed the 
•golden sunset hues of these great lives over American agricul- 
ture, had no higher aim than this, when he gave the first impulse 
•to our foundation ? It was the recorded experience of more 
than a quarter of a century which he desired to accumulate, 
■and we are now living to enjoy the realization of those hopes 
'With, which his mind was filled. His dreams are our realities. 
Year after year the wort has been going on, until the farmers 
of this county have the classics and text-books of their educa- 
tion in the pages of your transactions. Here, on this very 
soil, those facts have been gathered, which are important to 
the daily life of every man who dwells upon this same corner 
of the earth, and under this same arch of the sky. Could 
those men, who, when this society was formed, felt that a clay 
farm was a reproach and a stumbling block to agriculture, 
whose chiefest agricultural skill consisted iu selecting the 
-choicest soils, whose knowledge of manures extended hardly 
beyond their own barn yards, whose surface drainage destroyed 
the symmetry of their " meadows and fields," whose machinery 
■consisted in the intelligence and untiring industry of the farm 
labor of those days, and whose success in agriculture in spite 
of all obstacles, should teach us a most encouraging lesson, 
could those men have pondered over the record of under-drain- 
ing and deep ploughing, could they have studied the experi- 
ments made with all the fertilizers which sea and land have 
furnished from their ample stores, could they have learned how 
labor may be lightened and all farming operations be facilitated 
by labor saving machines, could their thoughts have been stim- 
ulated and instructed by the records of this society, if by noth- 
ing more, would not the dark corners in which they were grop- 
ing have been filled with the light of noon-day ? If the wheel 
of time could be reversed, and, waking them from their long 
sleep, could carry back to them the knowledge which we pos- 
sess, were it only that rudely raked together in our own little 
circle, the design of our society would seem to them almos* 
more than fulfilled = 



MR. LORTNG'S ADDRESS. 7' 

For I look upon an agricultural society as in the highest 
sense an agricultural school, in which all are teachers, and all' 
are pupils. And in this lies its most important duty. The 
best professor of agricultural chemistry, is lie who comes em- 
browned from the compost heap, which by judicious application 
has forced a; hundred bushels of corn from each of his well cul- 
tivated acres. The best teacher of the art of tilling the soil, 
is he, who has by long experience become acquainted with the 
habits of plants, from their tenderest infancy to the ripened 
harvest. The best expounder of agricultural truths, is he who 
has learned by diligence and perseverance, with a liberal and 
enquiring mind, what those economies are which give success 
to the farmer. The best farmer is he, who, while he becomes 
intimate with the laws of nature, and learns her mysteries so 
far as she will reveal them, has a quick eye for those useful 
discoveries and inventions which the ingenuity of man is con- 
stantly laying at the feet of agriculture. And herein lies the 
great end of agricultural education, get it where you will, from 
the school, or the club, or from those societies which excite 
investigation and experiment by the stimulus of competition. 

And it is difScult for agricultural education to go furthero. 
For agriculture has not yet become a fixed science. The as- 
tronomer calculates the courses of the stars, and runs his eye 
with unerring precision along those erratic orbits which are 
traversed but once in centuries. The chemist reduces the solid 
earth, the waters, and the invisible air to their original ele- 
ments, and learns the hidden affinities with the certainty of law.. 
But for the farmer " the wind bloweth where it listeth. Thoii» 
heaK^st the sound thereof, but thou canst not tell whence it 
Cometh or whither it goeth." The soils submit patiently to the 
most searching analyses, but they baffle all inquiry into that 
secret principle of life which the art of man has never reached, 
and which is known only to those acute and delicate investiga- 
tors, whose thousand fibres draw forth that sustenance which: 
gives stature to the mountain pine, and clothes the valleys with.; 
their living verdure. Men begin to vaunt themselves upon their 
success in supplying the human race with food, when a mysteri- 
ous disease invades one great staple of their productions, andi 
year after year rolls on without revealing to the anxious explor- 



6 MR. LORING'S ADDRESS. 

er the slightest remedy. One of the ilhistrions minds of ihe 
age applies the full power of science to supplying the deficien- 
cies of every soil, and to furnishing each plant with its own 
peculiar food, but is finally obliged to acknowledge, that the 
relation existing between the earth and the fruits thereof, is 
not to be reached by any human power. The changing seasons 
send abroad their decrees, the winds exert their influences, the 
sun comes forth on its errand, night shuts down over the earth, 
the rain and the dews descend, heat and cold come in their 
appointed times, the earth goes on with its silent changes, all 
warning man that not as a dictator, but as a patient and willing 
servant can he hope to reap that reward which the soil will 
always yield. 

The science of agriculture is thereforG of all sciences the 
most imcertain, whenever you would pass beyond the bounds 
of actual experience. The details of farming may indeed be 
taught. The use of the implements of husbandry is something 
that must be learned. A knowledge of the proper rotation of 
crops, and of the adaptation of soils to the vegetable kingdom, 
comes from teaching and observation. The rules applicable to 
the proper proportions of animals may be got in the schools. 
Building and draining and planting and fertilizing, may all be 
instilled into the mind, until the student of agriculture may go 
forth ready to subdue the hardest soil, and filled with tastes 
which will make his farm agreeable to the eye, as well as an 
addition to the wealth of the community. So far perhaps 
agriculture may be made a science. And so far, an agricul- 
tural society is capable of furnishing the principles of that 
science. 

In such a school as this, who are the professors and teach- 
ers? Is not every member who contributes his mite to the 
treasury of knowledge ? I have seen a young man in our own 
county who by care and diligence and skill and method, has 
procured year after year, from soil yielding previously hardly 
enough to pay its taxes, a crop of turnips which gave him a 
handsome annual income. Is not this young man a good 
teacher in the science of agriculture ? I have seen one of the 
most thriving towns in this section of the state enriched, until 
its whole population appears to be elevated above the thought 



MS. loring's address.- 9 

of want, by a skilful devotion to its onion crop* Have the 
farmers of that town no claims to be considered capable pro- 
fessors in the school of agriculture ? I have known an old 
orchard not far from us, to be brought from a state of almost 
hopeless decay and barrenness, to the most abundant bearing, 
by patient and continued cultivation. Is not this actual fact, 
established here in our own borders, a lesson which every 
farmer in this county can learn, and by which he can profit ? 
I have admired from my childhood the fFuitful fields, and the 
agricultural system of an ample farm in one of your towns, 
and have learned from it tkit there is in our own population, 
a capacity for farming which is surpassed in no section of our 
country. I have thought a better agricultural school than this 
farm could not be found. I have before me also, that most 
valuable of all citizens, one of what are called the yeomanry 
of our country. A farmer, born and educated to his calling, 
and filled with determination to discharge his duty well. The 
virtues of a New England home gave tone and direction to his 
earliest impulses. The sharp and bracing air of his native 
hills nerved his arm, and knit his manly frame into that sturdy 
symmetry which his destiny demands. Amidst the conflicts 
and trials, amidst the joys and sports of the district school, he 
dlai the foundation of his knowledge, without advancing into 
that realm of letters which is beset with the snares of ambi- 
tion, and is surrounded by all the temptations which the high 
mountains of society are sure to reveal. The great book of 
nature lies always open before him, and the relation which 
exists between the earth and its cultivator is the first lesson 
he learns from its pages. The capacity of his native soil 
becomes as familiar to his growing eye as the careworn form 
of his industrious father, from whom he learns year by year the 
practical business of agriculture. Among the animals of the 
farm he walks supreme and applies an unerring instinct to his- 
estimate of their quality, and to the work of rendering them 
obedient to his will. He learns not only the art of tilling the 
earth, but the demands of the community in which he lives ;; 
and as he advances to that position which he is born to fill, he' 
finds that the experience of his fathers, and the recorded trials- 
®f his neighbors, constitute that science which he is most eagei? 



10 ilR. LORING'S ADDEESB. 

to learn. As lie goes on in life, a busy world responds to his 
enquiries. The agricultural societies, which, in the best farm- 
ing countries in the old world and the new, are founded for 
the benefit of all men like himself, pour forth their treasures at 
his feet. Subjected to his treatment, his ancestral acres unfold 
■new riches at his hands, and he becomes, as lie goes on in 
life, the impersonation of successful, economical, progressive 
agriculture. Will not this man, as a member of our society, 
'serve as a teacher of the best truths of agricultural science ? 
As he returns, day by day " warworn and weary" from his con- 
test with nature, does he not accumulate practical wisdom, 
which, if imparted, will lighten the load man is forced to 
carry in every occupation in this toilsome world T 

In estimating as I do, the value of the farmer as a teacher of 
agriculture, both in his private capacity and as an active member 
of a society, I would not be understood as opposed to agricul- 
tural schools and colleres. There is no royal road to learning 
in any of its branches. I have no doubt that a thorough agri- 
cultural education would save much misapplied time and labor 
and capital. I have no doubt that it would accelerate the pro- 
gress of agriculture. I can easily imagine the effect it would 
have upon the farming interests of our own county, not only by 
the universal influence it would ezercise, but by the stimulus 
it would give the leading and prominent members of the pro- 
fession. It would make the good farmers better, and the poo'r 
ones good. And I can easily understand the advantages which 
those practical teachers of agriculture whom I have designated, 
might have derived from a thorough knowledge of the general 
principles taught in schools, not only by means of the actual 
acquirements and the increased wisdom given by culture, but 
also by means of that freedom from prejudice and that liberal 
spirit of enquiry and progress which lie at the foundation of all 
true success, and have enriched and elevated mankind by the 
patient toils of invention, and by the brilliant and startling 
achievements of discovery, and which education alone can give. 

l-3ut then, gentlemen, comes the immense power of example^ 
Why. I can take you to sections of your own county, wliere 
the quiet and unobtrusive efforts of a sagacious, industrious, 
prudent farmer have operated, like contagion upon all about 



MR. LORIN.G'S ADDRESS. 11' 

Mim, iintii liG has become one of a community of thriving far- 
mers. His well cultivated and fruitful fields, his carefully- 
pruned orchards laden with fruit, his thrifty and profitable cat- 
tle, his well ordered buildings, his walls and fences a protec- 
tion to his lands, all lie like an open book before his neighbors, 
so that "he who runs may read." His farm is a treatise on. 
agriculture which every man can comprehend, and which all 
men delight to study. And as he presents himself with the 
fruits of his industry at the annual exhibition of this Society, 
lie does more than books and essays, more than schools and 
colleges, to awaken the agricultural ambition, and to advance 
the farming interests of this community. He is every day 
teaching by example, and is illustrating, moreover, that view 
which I have taken of an agricultural society as one of the 
"best of agricultural schools. 

That this kind of teaching is not in vain, let us look over 
this little section of the country, which contains the farming 
interest represented by this society. Here in Essex county,, 
we have every kind of industry to tempt us away from agri- 
culture. A long line of sea-coast, with good harbors, has been- 
made famous in the history of commerce by the enterprise of 
our citizens, who swept the remotest seas when navigation was 
in its infancy, and it has been made illustrious in the annals 
of our country by the patriotic daring which gave our navy a 
name among the nations of the earth. Upon the banks of our 
rivers and streams, the capital of the manufacturer has built as 
it were with a magician's wand, the thronged and busy palaces 
of his trade. The mechanic arts have peopled our villages 
and planted their shops along all our beautiful highways ; 
and yet in this county enclosing four large cities, flourishing 
towns, busy villages, with every inducement to neglect the 
soil, our people have taken a high stand as intelligent and 
enterprising farmers. In the cultivation of root crops and 
vegetables we have not been surpassed, as the premiums 
awarded at the last horticultural exhibition in Boston will tes- 
tify. The largest recorded amount of carrots upon an acre 
were raised in this very town where I am now speaking. No- 
where has the onion been cultivated with more skill and profit 
than on these fields directly about us. The applica^tion of sea-- 



12 MR. LORINGS ADDRESS. 

manure of all descriptions to the soil, lias been carried to the 
highest perfection along our coast. Some of the best experi- 
ments in improving cattle and sheep have been made upon our 
farms. In horticulture and pomology the names of Cabot, 
and Manning and Ives, are quoted as authority. Whoever has 
heard of the liberal and energetic President of our ' Society, 
knovfs that at Lynmere there is a growth of forest trees 
planted by his hand, which is almost unequalled as " a thing of 
beauty," and as a triumph of skill over a hard and sterile soil. 
I can show you on the shore of Beverly, the best arranged 
farm buildings that can be found perhaps in New England, 
taking them together ; and you will find there as choice a col- 
lection of cows as can be seen anywhere, and I think decidedly 
the finest Suffolks and flock of Dorkings that can be found this 
side of the royal farm at Windsor, from whence they came. 
Not far from us, overlooking our very show ground is a green- 
house and grapery, which Mr. Paxton might envy, even among 
the costly edifices of his lordly master at Chatsworth. Our 
experiments in under-draining have become so extensive, that 
a manufactory of tiles has been established in the county. At 
a trial of mowiug machines during the past summer, on my 
farm, six different inventions were brought upon the ground 
almost at a day's warning, and since that time, two others have 
been sent to me for introduction to our farmers who are becom- 
ing proverbial for their enterprise in the use of machinery. 
We have at our exhibition to-day, one of only two tedders that 
have been imported into this country — a machine which in the 
simple matter of spreading hay, is of inestimable value to 
every farmer who would secure this important crop thoroughly, 
rapidly and economically. 

I will not say that all these agricultural improvements, these 
indications of an agricultural ambition among us, have been 
brought about by our society — but I am proud to say there is 
not one of them which has not been encouraged by its liberal- 
ity. The competition it has excited in mowing machines alone, 
has aided in a very great degree, the development of an instru- 
ment of labor from one degree of perfection to another, until 
our farmers have the prospect before them of being able to 
resign the scythe with all its hard toil, and with the constantly 



MR. loring's address. 13 

increasing expense attending its use. And will our liortieal- 
turists, our breeders of cattle, our reclaimers of waste lands; 
our cultivators of field crops say that they have not been 
stimulated by our society and enlightened by its publications? 
For myself, I believe it has become an institution which our 
farmers would not resign. I know that the associations which 
cluster about it, bringing to our minds] as they do the pleasant 
memories of our annual iEtercourse with each other, and con- 
nected as they are with the industrial pursuits of our wives 
and daughters, whose handiwork has given a peculiar charm 
to our exhibitions, are dear to us all. I value the knowledge 
it has accumulated, gathered together as it has been with the 
products of our own soil, as of priceless value to every enter- 
prising and enquiring Essex county farmer. 

I consider therefore this collection of practical knowledge, 
as one of the highest duties our society has to perform. I 
would have it continued by every means within our power, 
consistent with prudence and economy. We may rely upon it, 
that the general elevation of agriculture here, will be more 
promoted by this, than by any endowment of schools and 
colleges ; for while these develop the faculties of the few, the 
efforts and influences of our society may be made to reach the 
humblost farmer who is striving to make the most of his single 
talent, I am confident that by a faithful discharge of this 
duty, we shall find our whole farming community advancing in 
intelligence and prosperity, and developing those resources 
which lie hidden in our soil. And I am encouraged to believe 
this, when I look abroad and see what other similiar associa- 
tions have done, and what they indicate. In England, where 
agriculture has reached a degree of perfection unknown else- 
where, the greatest attention is paid to agricultural societies. 
There are but five agricultural colleges, and even these are 
buried in comparative obscurity, while the meetings of the 
Eoyal Agricultural Society are thronged by an interested 
crowd of husbandmen, who have felt the effects of this noble 
institution upon all their interests. In 1857, the number of 
visitors to the show at Salisbury amounted to over thirty-five 
thousand, all learners in a school which first roused the English 
mind to the true value of artificial manures, to the necessity of 



14' MR. LORING'S ADDRESS.. 

■anclfer-drainage, to tlie importance of a tliorougli and careftii" 
investigation of the best method of feeding animals, and to the 
most successful modes of cultivation. It is impossible for me 
to lay before yon all that this society has done to remove the 
prejudices and awaken- the minds of the English farmers, botL 
by its publications, and by its exhibitions of machinery which- 
has been actually used upon the farm, of cattle which have 
been improved beyond a doubt in England, of products- 
which high farming has brought forth upon that very soil. Let 
me tell you that one great era in English agriculture, dates- 
from the opening of this society in 1839, when, as has been 
truly said, " farmers began to be familiarized with men of sci- 
ence, and men of science learned not to despise agricultural 
experience.'' It was an era also in our own agriculture, when 
the establishment of societies made farmers familiar with each: 
other, and opened their minds to the importance of their occu- 
pation. 

In the midst of all the higher duties which devolve upon us,, 
let us not forget those humbler obligations which really lie at 
the foundation of all our work, and measure the amount of influ- 
ence we are to exert. It belongs to us to cherish by every 
means in our power, a fraternity of feeling among our farmers.. 
The love of land which we inherited from our Anglo-Saxon 
progenitors, is always attended by the desire for isolation, 
strong reliance upon self and exclusive devotion to one's family, 
which have always characterized that extraordinary race. 
Whatever tends to counteract an extravagant development of 
these qualities, binds society together with new bonds. The 
heart of man never expands until it feels the full force of the 
fact that it is but one of a community, and is warmed by the 
quick sympathies of neighbors and friends. The farmer living 
on his own land, has a sense of independence, which, if carried 
too far, might destroy all those ties which bind society together. 
The excess of individuality is his im^minent danger. Prejudice 
and a fond adherence to old ways surround him on every side, 
■with constant tendency to make his mind obtuse. In the calm 
and imperturbable spirit which threatens to encase him in an 
armour of steel, what a contrast does he form to the impulsive 
and excitable groups which are swayed to and fro by every 



IIR. LGRIFG'S "ADDRESS. 15 

■"wind of doctrine'' that reaches their work-shops, andwhirls 
them along with resistless current. In avoiding this extreme, 
lie is threatened by another, from which associated labor alene 
can save him. It is the agricultural society "W^hich teaches him 
that his fellow-men have like passions and interests with his 
own. It is the agricultural society which extends his sympa- 
thies, and rouses his ambition, and enlarges his mind.and arms him 
■ against those foes which beset him behind and before to destroy 
himself and degrade his calling. The blocd of our fathers 
makes us careful, prudent, successful farmers ; the associa- 
tions which they founded will make us intelligent, liberal an^ 
progressive' cues. 

'In this respect every form of associated agricultural effort 
is of the highest importance. A town that sustains a farmer's 
club is sure to have its due proportion of good farmers. What 
invaluable allies to a county society they might be made! 
'Local fairs cannot be too highly estimated, both as a means of 
bringing farmers together, and also as furnishing an opportu- 
nity for purchase, sale and interohange ; and I trust the day is 
■not far distant v/hen the judicious recommendation made t© 
you by your President, will be so far carried out, as to result 
in the establishment of monthly, if not weekly fairs, in some 
■convenient location in the county. Let us in every way create 
a community of feeling here, a sort of esprit du corps ^ a desire 
to talk with each other, a desire to trade with each other, a 
'determination to cultivate our own minds and supply our own 
markets, and Esses county will soon become as distinguished 
for its agriculture, as it now is for its wealth and enterprise ia 
commerce, manufactures and the mechanic arts. 

Above all things, it is our duty to be in the ordinary term 
■of rather an uneasy age, sufficiently progressive. This is ^ 
dangerous word I know, inasmuch as progress too often msezis 
an entire accordance with our own opinions. There is a^rsst- 
less, short-sighted spirit,whicb weare veryapt to dignify with the 
name of progress, but which is nothing more than a superficial 
love of excitement, novelty and change. Agriculture tolerates 
no such handmaid as this. And I cannot too warmly^ eongrat- 
•ulate this Society that it has escaped its influences. When 
I consider the alacrity with which every invention asid every 



16 iin. loring's address; 

new branch of agriculture have been recognized, the liberal 
rewards which have been offered for all improvements, the 
generous consideration which has been shown careful breeders 
of our most valuable farm animals and the attention which ha& 
been aroused by the published essays of the society, I cannot 
but look with pride upon an association which seems blessed 
with perpetual youth, tempered with the wisdom and judgment 
of mature manhood. In it3 devotion to the cause of agricul- 
ture, it has kept pace with the best intelligence of the age, and 
has placed itself on an enduring foundation in the minds of the 
farming community. An- agricultural society, which, while too 
many have yielded, and fatally too, to a passion which leaves 
no room for the homely fruits of honest farming, has discrimi- 
nated between the different uses of the animal kingdom, 
deserves all praise. It has a due regard for all the interests 
vp-hich come under its cognizance. One of its great objects is 
the encouragement of breeding valuable animals for the profit 
of the farmer and for the advantage of the community, whether 
it be for the dairy, for draught, or for driving. In all this, it 
is observant of the most important interests submitted to it> 
and is as truly progressive in its recognition of all classes of 
animaJs as it is in the reward it offers the various branches of 
farming. It is the legitimate use of animals, and the legiti- 
mate growth of crops with which it is concerned. Our society 
offers liberal premiums for bulls— does it follow that we must 
have a bull-fight at every annual exhibition ? We all value 
the horse and have encouraged the breeding of this important 
animal with ample rewards — will the most intelligent judges 
among us say that they require the trials of the track, in ordeu 
to make up their decisions ? All these things have their place, 
but it is not exactly at a farmers' exhibitino, or as part of a soci- 
ety, which should be actuated by an honest feeling of competi- 
tion, based upon a love of excellence and a desire to advance 
an honorable and useful calling, and which has no more con- 
nection with the ardor of the race-course, than submitting the 
seed to the uncertain influences of the earth has with the haz- 
ards of the faro bank and the dice box. The two occupations 
cannot live together, neither is it necessary that they should 
for the benefit of any branch of industry. Not that I would 



MR. loring's address. 17 

hUve our soeiety discontinue the liberal encouragement it has- 
always extended to the development of the American trotting 
horse, than which no animal is wiser, more enduring and 
patient, more courageous, nor more defiant of all obstacles. 
But as it values its own existence, as it regards the dignity of- 
that occupation to which it is devoted, I trust it will never sub- 
stitute a dangerous excitement for that healthy exhilaration 
which the farmer feels as he surveys the creditable products of 
agricultural industry and skill. There is enough in our exhi- 
bitions to occupy the attention of all who come to learn, enough 
to gratify the curiosity of all who come as spectators, enough to 
arrest the thoughts of all who come to witness the progress 
of that business upon which the subsistence of society depends. 
Anything beyond this is inappropriate. And I am constrained, 
to believe that a desire to introduce amusements among us, 
which might for a time eclipse our more important duties, arises- 
from an inability to comprehend the true object of our associ- 
ation. What do you suppose a solid Yorkshire man would say, 
were he called away from handling Lord Feversham's prize Short 
Horn bull, to witness a trial of speed between Mr. Tenbroeck's 
Prior, and the slashing mare Blink Bonny. Our trans- Atlantic- 
neighbors know better than this. They breed thorough breeds, 
in almost evory race of animals domesticated by man, they un- 
derstand the glowing pleasures of the chase, they know all 
about the hearty joys, and the fascinating chances of the race- 
course, the Derby, Epsom, Newmarket, are all entered in their 
calendar' — but when the steam plough is brought into the field,, 
when the earliest maturity of beef and mutton is to be considered, 
when the best methods of producing breeds of animals adapted 
to specific purposes are to be investigated, when cultivation and 
crops are to be examined, the Englishman closes his sporting 
book, and becomes an inquiring, progressive, successful farmer... 
And will any one say that the Englishman does not pay sufficient 
attention to the breeding of horses ? Why, it has become a. 
science with him, taught and developed not by converting his 
fair grounds into the turf, but b^. that care and intelligence 
which always receive their reward, and which may be imitated 
by us to our honor and profit. Let us then as a society encour- 
age still the attention, our farmers are giving these useful anir 

3 



18 MR. loring's address. 

rnals, and if any man doubts the benefit to be derived from it, 
let liim witness the extraordinary success one of our own Essex 
farmers has met with by the exercise of that judgment and 
skill which have enabled him to produce a Childers, and to fill 
his stables with a collection of colts unequaled as a whole, 
from which one yearling animal has been sold at a price great- 
er than was ever before obtained in New England. Let us do 
this, and I think we shall be progressive enough for the most 
ardent lover of horse flesh in the country ; let us continue the 
encouragement we have always offered the legitimate improve- 
ments of agriculture, and I think we shall be progressive 
enough for the most zealous farmer in the country. 

And now, gentlemen, let me say a word with regard to the 
opportunities we possess for discharging these duties to which 
I have referred. The law of consequences and compensation 
which controls the life of each individual, and, under the guid- 
ance of Providence, prevents our being the mere creatures of 
accident, directs also the course of associations of men, and fur- 
nishes them their opportunity for good or evil. By a long and 
honorable career, our society has secured a position which by 
elevating its influence, multiplies its chances for efi'ort. I be- 
lieve you will all agree that it has won the respect of the farmers 
of our county, and of the community generally. It has been 
deemed worthy of the most liberal consideration of many of our 
loest citizens. A valuable library has in this way been collected 
which furnishes constant opportunity for reference and infor- 
mation. And a large agricultural interest has learned to be 
stimulated by our rewards and instructed by our advice and 
counsel. 

But above all, our association has been deemed a worthy 
recipient of one of the best farms in our county, a legacy 
bequeathed to us for the promotion of the science of agricul- 
ture. I think I do not estimate this bequest from Ijr. Tread- 
well too highly, when I look upon it not only as a compliment 
to the reputation we have won as a society, but as by far the 
most valuable means we possess for carrying on the work we 
have begun. A farm for experiment and observation — how 
much is involved in this design ! Under the care of an intelli- 
gent farmer, and conducted by a competent committee, the 



MR. LORING'S ADDRESS. 19 

accumulation of facts wliich may be made there must be full of 
interest and instruction. We may learn within our own bor- 
ders if we will, the changes of the seasons from year to year, 
the chances of crops in our latitude, the cultivation best adapted 
to our soil, the effects of manures, the expense and benefits of 
drainage, the relative value of products, without incurring that 
expenditure of time and money which renders experimental 
farming so hazardous and so generally unprofitable. I trust 
this golden opportunity will not be wasted ; and I most earn- 
estly urge upon you the adoption of a system which shall render 
the records of the Treadwell farm an addition to our agricul- 
tural literature, which shall be creditable to ourselves and 
profitable to those, who, coming after us, assume our duties and 
inherit our opportunities. 

In conclusion, we should not forget the thousand associa- 
tions which throng upon us as we come up to our annual festi- 
val. The picture of home, of fond pride and warm attach- 
ments, is constantly before us. The fabric wrought at the 
domestic fireside, has enwoven through all its fibres the simple 
taste which designed, and the simple virtues which attended its 
construction. Not a plant or an animal adorns your exhibition 
that has not been an object of human care, appealing to man's 
ingenuity for its culture, and to man's kindness for protection. 
They tell of spring, struggling to come forth, touching the 
earth with the first faint soft hues of life — of summer, warming 
and cherishing to the richest exuberance — of autumn, dashing 
its gorgeous colors with bold and lavish hand over the land- 
scape, and crowning the laborer with a rich reward — of winter, 
whose night season of repose shuts down over the earth, and 
binds with domestic ties man with his flocks and herds into 
one great family of mutual dependence, filled with faith and 
trust. They remind us of those possessions which appeal to 
our kindest impulses, and whose memory is always ready to 
cheer us through the dull hours of absence and trial. Have you 
never heard from the care-worn and grey-haired man, the story 
of that tree which cast its shadow upon the roof of his native 
cottage, and the music of whose branches he has always heard 
when far away amidst the din of busy life ? Have you never 
experienced the confidence and trust and the calm^content which 



20 MR. LORING'S ADDRESS. 

the possession of the soil ought to bring? To those 'whos'e 
daily toil is devoted to the business of agriculture, the beauties 
of the farm may be hidden beneath the weight of care it brings; 
but above all, rises the genius of the occupation to find the 
ready response in man's nature, until the yoke seems to grow 
"light and easy." And when the temptations of an active 
world have drawn man away from his paternal acres into the 
severer labors of the forum or the market place, when he is 
tossed upon the stormy sea, or defies all danger in the battles of 
his country, his thoughts by day and his dreams by night carry 
him to those scenes of his youth in which the valley and hill, 
the pasture and woodland, the dewy morning and the quiet 
evening, the daily events of farm-life, ^crepared for his wearied 
soul a fairy land in which he can always find peace and 
repose. 

*' I flew to the pleasant fields traversed so oft, 

In life's morning march, when my bosom was young, 

I heard my own mountain goats bleating aloft, 
And knew the sweet strain that the corn-reaper sung." 

This is not the poetry of farming life, but it is the reality 
"which outlasts all fleeting events, which remains when the bur- 
thens of the day are all forgotten, which never faded from the 
memory of the great statesman, who, when Ms eye was grow- 
ing dim at the approach of death, would have his last look 
linger upon those fields which he learned to love, before honors 
and ambition had besieged his fretted soul. It is a reality 
which dwells upon my mind when I urge you to cherish and 
develop the agriculture of your county, as the basis of much Of 
'its prosperity and happiness, and as the parent of its most loyal 
and devoted children. It is a reality which you all possess, 
which your occupation has given, and which God grant no 
I power on earth can ever take away. 



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